Shooting sports have been around for decades. Even if you haven’t competed at an event, most firearms enthusiasts have at least heard of them. There are two and three-gun competitions, long range specific events, USPSA and IDPA pistol competitions, team events, even two-gun with a fitness element and many, many more opportunities to stretch your shooting skillset.
New to the arena in 2022 is 1Gun. Although this shooting “league” is much different than its cousins – IDPA, USPSA, IPSC and ICORE – it stems from the same family of pistol shooting competitions. 1Gun was founded in late 2021 by competitive shooter Bruce Kilgore and the first PractiScore match took place at The Phoenix Rod & Gun Club in May of 2022.
The idea for 1Gun came about to combine the well-liked aspects from the different shooting sports while simplifying some of the rules and creating more dynamic stages for competitors. 1Gun aims to make shooting sports approachable again, being equally aimed at new shooters and bringing back disenfranchised experienced shooters from the other leagues.
“We wanted to bring shooting back to its roots. In 1Gun, there is no rehearsal.
The shooter simply reacts.” -Bruce Kilgore
Like other pistol shooting sports, the 1Gun stages are set up with multiple paper targets, moving targets, steel targets and props such as barrels, walls, cars, desks, and more. In addition to upholding the obvious range safety protocol, proper range commands are given, the timer goes off and the shooter is ready to engage the stage. Scoring is time plus points/penalties and are specified limited rounds of ammunition or unlimited rounds of ammunition.
There are a few key takeaways that set 1Gun apart. The most notable is how the stages are different for each shooter. 1Gun allows all standard targets from USPSA, IDPA, IPSC and ICORE and allows non-standard targets such as 3×5 cards, bowling pins and other unusual objects requiring the shooter to ID their specific target and think during their entire run, not just shoot as fast as they can at every available target. The targets are denoted in red, white or blue that indicate which targets the shooter will engage on said stage. Once the range is confirmed hot and the shooter is ready, they must flip a cup or small bucket where a red, white [in the middle] and blue poker like chip hides underneath. Whichever color is on top, either red or blue, indicates which target series the shooter will engage and which ones will become no shoots –with white being common to all. So, when the competitor flips the bucket and it reveals the color blue on top, the shooter then engages the blue and white targets, but not the red. When the next competitor flips the bucket and sees red, they engage the red and white targets and avoid the blue ones. This creates a more dynamic thinking game for participants and is designed for the shooter to have to react rather than adapt to a pre-rehearsed stages.
There are three stage types designed to allow the shooter to react and adapt rather than replay the scenario in their head prior to shooting. Standard stages are designed to challenge basic gun handling and marksmanship. Mission based stages have a specific mission like “start here, do this, end here” and Run-n-Gun type stages are meant to challenge speed and efficiency in a safe manner. All three types have the ADDED variable of the random target color choice.
The Rule Book for 1Gun is short, sweet and to the point. One can read through it in less than ten minutes. Beyond observing range safety etiquette, the Cliff’s Notes version is; there are four divisions based on round count, L6, L8, L10, L15 [the number representing the carry capacity of the handgun] and two equipment categories, optic or iron sights. The classifications are Novice, Intermediate and Advanced and shooters are encouraged to complete their first classifier by their fourth local match. No long guns of any type are allowed, including pistol carbine calibers.
Penalties are mostly common sense including generic procedural, failure to engage, foot faults and premature starts and of course any safety violation or unsportsmanlike conduct will most likely result in an automatic DQ. New to 1Gun, and some would argue long time overdue in the shooting community, is the “That Guy” penalty. Given 60 seconds on the first call and a DQ on the second, any participant holding up the match or excessively arguing, spending too much time on the initial walk through, not helping, non-handicapped shooters utilizing handicapped only shooting positions or anything else the Match Director deems as just plain stupid will result in a “That Guy” penalty – plain and simple, don’t be that guy!
We have long been awaiting a competition with a simpler set of rules, ease of equipment use and more dynamic stages. 1Gun has attracted Master shooters from other shooting sports along with competitors from every level and while gaining traction in its home state of Arizona, is growing quickly throughout the US.
For more information, please visit www.1gun.org or contact us at the shop for general shooting instruction and 1Gun competitions at info@alpinearms.com.
Recent Comments